Page 15 of His Wicked Embrace
Grief and rage mixed in Avery’s eyes as he focused again on Lawrence. For the first time, Lawrence allowed himself to feel the depth of the awfulness of what had happened to Zehra. The things she must’ve seen, things she must have suffered. His stomach turned. It had been worse than he’d evenimagined.
“Where is she?” Avery’s tone wasquieter.
“Upstairs, having a hot bath. I’ve been seeing to her care, nothing more. I swear it.” He may have been a damned rogue, but his mother had taught him one thing above all else—when you came across a woman in need, you played the hero as best youcould.
Avery sighed and raked a hand through his hair, which was more sun-kissed than their other siblings’ darker redhair.
“She will have to go back. You know that, don’t you? She cannot stay here. There’s no place for her. If it were to come out, it could ruin the peace talks and trade negotiations we’re attempting at the moment with Persia. Relations are strained enough with them as it is. If they discover we are allowing the sale of their people as slaves, it could kill those negotiations, and we might end up in awar.”
Lawrence swallowed down the sudden lump in his throat. Send her back? She wouldn’t be safethere.
“I gave her my word that she could stay with me if she wished it,” Lawrence said. He wasn’t sure if it was his place to mention the peril she might be put in, notyet.
“And that was generous of you, but you can’t. What will she do in London? She has no friends, no purpose except to entertain you. I know you, Lawrence. If she’s anything like the other women we saved from the White House auction, she must be stunning, and we both know you’ve had little, if any, self-restraint when it comes towomen.”
Lawrence growled. “That’s notfair.”
“Remember Horatia? You got carried away with our own brother’s future wife and kissed her, quite against herwishes.”
Lawrence groaned. “That was at Mother’s insistence. You were there! She told me to seduce Horatia to make Lucien jealous. I only kissed her…” Even still, he had felt like a cad for it. Horatia Sheridan had fought him off like he was some wild pirate trying to ravish her. He’d only wanted Lucien to see them together so that he would be jealous enough to claim Horatia as hisown.
Mama and her blasted matchmakingschemes…
“Please don’t make me take her to the docks, Avery. I believe she’d fit well in England with enoughtime.”
“She’s not a lost puppy, for God’s sake,Lawrence.”
“Blast it, brother, stop twisting my words. She speaks English fluently. I could introduce her to Horatia, perhaps even Emily and the otherladies…”
Avery scoffed. “Introduce a common woman from Lord-knows-where in Persia to a duchess? Lawrence, you’ve lost yourmind.”
“She’s notcommon, Avery. She’s a princess, or some suchthing.”
Avery shook his head and leaned a hand on the nearest armchair. “You’re naïve. Let me hazard a guess—that is what the auctioneer at the White House told you?” Lawrence didn’t answer. “They say things like that about all of those women. It makes them more exotic and desirable to the bidders. She’s not special, Lawrence, she’s just like the other women they brought here. Scared women ripped from their homes, deserving of respect and repatriation. We’re doing our best to help them and see themreturned.”
“She won’t be safe there—” Lawrence began, but Avery cut himoff.
“You’ve developed a silly notion of playing the hero for her, but I won’t let you ruin your lifeorhers by letting you get attached. She is not some convenientplaything.”
Fury shot through Lawrence, and he reacted without thinking. His fist caught Avery right in the eye, causing him to stumble back, cursing, before he could raise his fists indefense.
“You really want to do this before breakfast?” Avery snapped. “You know how it will end. And then what would Mothersay?”
“Mother would say, you had better not!” a feminine voice declared. It came from the doorway of Lawrence’s study. Both he and Avery turned to stare in horror at their mother, who was glowering at them. Lady Russell hadarrived.
Chapter Five
Jane Russell was a stunning woman of fifty-two years with dark-red hair and hazel eyes. Lawrence wasn’t fooled by his mother’s beauty, however. He knew she was one of the fiercest matriarchs in all thetonwhen it came to schemes, especially those of a matchmaking nature. She also had the uncanny ability to appear in the lives of her children when they least expected. Like rightnow.
“Does everyone just walk into my house without knocking? Where the bloody hell is MacTavish, and why isn’t he doing his bloody job?” Lawrence flexed his throbbing hand, and Avery rubbed his sore eye, each shooting glares at theother.
“A good butler knows better than to stop a man’s mother at the front door.” Jane pulled at the tips of her gloves, removing them while she stared at her sons, one reddish brow arched in disapproval. “What are you two quarrelingabout?”
Lawrence and Avery shared a look. Avery gave Lawrence a jerk of the head so slight their mother would missit.
Besilent.
He quite agreed. Their mother could not know what they were fightingabout.
